Lantana

Lantana
by Ray Lawrence

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DVD Reviews of Lantana

DVD Review: Gentlemen.... Start your brushcutters!
Summary: 2 Stars

The opening scene of the camera moving slowly over and into a dense flowering thicket of the films namesake offers the promise of something special. The sound of cicadas and the feeling of growing claustrophobia as we move deeper into the darkening mass reveals the closeup of a bare and bloodied foot. The lens follows along the leg finally exposing the body of a women face down deep within this tangle of branches and vines. She lies motionless and contorted with an arm twisted behind her back. Yes indeed something sinister is a FOOT! The camera concentrates briefly on her open hand until it slowy pulls back fading into darkness. But from here on the moment is lost.

Leon Kat (La Paglia) is a tired tormented detective with a mid life crisis on his hands. Leon is no longer able to communicate with or give his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) the emotional fufilling marriage she so desperatlely needs. Sonja begins seeing a therapist Valerie Somers, (Barbara Hershey) who's eleven year old daughter, Eleanor, was murdered two years earlier. Valerie has written a book about her experience titled.... "Eleanor".... of course. She has put herself in the spotlight to promote the book. (After all that's what American therapists all do... isn't it?) Valeries own surpressed grief of losing Eleanor is interwoven with the guilt of exploiting the situation. This has caused problems in her own marriage with her husband John Somers (Geofferey Rush). Detective Leon is doing indeed what Sonja ultimately suspects. Having an affair with the recently seperated Jane O'may (Rachel Blake) who attends the same Latin dances classes as Leon and Sonja. Jane's estranged husband (Glenn Robbins) stills pines for Jane and pressures his ex neighbour and friend Nik D'Amato (Vince Colosimo) to confide in him if she is seeing anyone else. So while Nik watches Jane.... Jane watches Nik! In parallel, therapist Valerie (Barbara Hershey) begins to doubt her own husbands fidelity after spending several session counselling the gay Patrick Phelan (Peter Phelps) who has confided in her that he is having a relationship with a married man. (Are you still with me?) Patrick spends so much time counter anaylising Valerie that one begins to question why he bothered coming to her in the first place. Does he know something about Valerie? Valerie begins to suspect that Patrick's lover is indeed her own husband John (Rush).

And so it goes getting more tangled and interwoven just like the noxious weed Lantana itself. Then suddenly Valerie mysteriously disappears leaving her car abandoned on a lonely road. Jane (Rachel Blake), Leons lover, suspects her neighbour, Nik D'Amato (Vince Colosimo) has something to do with Valeries disappearence and detective Leon (who else) is called in to solve the case. As part of the investigation Leon studies Valeries patient files and begins to uncover more than he bargained for etc, etc. From here on in all the twisted vines begin to merge into one.

La Paglia as Leon does a reasonable job under the circumstances and both Kerry Armstrong and Rachel Blake are uniformally excellent, sparring for the attentions of the confused Leon. Hershey however would look more at home in Madam Toussauds waxworks, and the wasted Rush who appears decidedly uncomfortable with his role as the two dimensional John, is just totally out of place.

The writer, Andrew Bovill (Speaking in Tongues on which Lantana is based) seems to have tried to create a 'Shortcuts' meets 'Halifax FP' meets 'Days of Our Lives'. As a result 'Lantana' is quite simply too clever by half... or maybe three quarters. I admit I entered the theater with high expectations. After all 13 AFI nominations AND apparent critical public acclaim to boot. Not an easy task for any film to score on both fronts. There is no shortage of big names, La Paglia, Rush, Hershey. But nothing they can do can pull this one out of the tangled mess that it is. Lantana falls for the same cliched signposts that are commonplace in too many 'B' grade pyschological telemovies. While infidelity, deceit, mistrust and guilt are commonly reoccurring themes in both real life and subject matter for filmmakers, they are not pulled off at all well in Lantana. It simply relies on too many improbable coincidences to tie it all together making one gasp... "Oh no... not again!" Yet films such as Altman's 'Shortcuts' and the '99 release 'Magnolia', while also relying on the interconnectivity of the characters, manage to not jar ones senses of probabilty in quite the same way.

I expect this Australian movie has been engineered to target the American market. After all why headline such an overated pyschodrama with the likes of the 'American' Aussie expatriate La Paglia, the familar Hershey and waste the talents of the universally acclaimed Rush in such a banal role? Bad career move, Geoffrey! The often painful and predictable dialogue spends too much time alluring to the obvious and the unispiring camerawork and Paul Kellys soundtrack work overtime making sure that we don't miss the point... or at least what we think is the point. Bovills attempt at convoluted cleverness comes at the expense of any really satisfying character developement.

If the reviews hadn't been so glowing, the cast so acclaimed... my expectations may not have been so great. I have asked myself on more than one occassion since "Did I miss something?" To lay claim as some reviewers have, that 'Lantana' is one of the best films to ever come out of this country (Australia) quite simply casts a blight on those far worthier. This is no cinematic triumph however one may disect it.

I'm left to wonder if the critics have been working as election campaign spindoctors on their days off.

It's such a shame that far too many fine people wasted their talents on what amounts to little more than a second rate telemovie. Lantana tries so hard to be clever but comes out looking exceedingly amateur.

I would be surprised if we see or hear of director Ray Lawrence or writer Andrew Bovill for some time to come after this foray into the weeds.

Conclusion.... Spend your fifteen dollars on a home delivered pizza and a video of Robert Altman's 'Shortcuts'... far better value!

P.S. I look forward to seeing what Kerry Armsrong and Rachael Blake can really achieve with a decent script.

Description of Lantana